1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a valve mounted through the wall of an enclosure. In particular embodiments, it relates a valve mounted through the hull of a submersible vehicle for delivery of a fluid to a storage tank within the vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
It is sometimes desired to house fluid-storage tanks within a sealed enclosure. The enclosure is formed by a wall or walls that surround(s) and contains those tanks. In the case of a submersible vehicle, the enclosure is the vehicle hull. The enclosure (e.g. hull) isolates the within environment from the outside environment and protects the tanks and any other components disposed within. For example, it may be desirable to draw and maintain a vacuum within the enclosure in order to thermally isolate the enclosed tanks and other components, to regulate its buoyancy and/or to minimize the apparatus's overall mass.
A conventional unmanned submersible vehicle receives its electrical power from onboard batteries. However, batteries possess a relatively-limited charge time meaning the vehicle has to be frequently recovered and its batteries recharged. It would be desirable to replace the batteries with a hydrogen/oxygen fuel cell, which would necessitate onboard stores of hydrogen and oxygen. It also may be desirable to store other fluids onboard a submersible vehicle, manned or unmanned, or in other types of enclosures whose interior environments it is desired to control or isolate. Internal storage tanks may be provided for this purpose, which may contain compressed atmospheric gases, potable water or other liquids useful for a variety of purposes including for life support, as fuels, or as other materials useful to sustain the apparatus, its occupants or its mission. In certain applications, the tanks can contain cryogenic liquids (such as liquid hydrogen, oxygen, helium or other cryogens), which can be used as life-support gases after being heated and vaporized to their gaseous state, or as fuels for propulsion or for electric-generation equipment such as an onboard hydrogen/oxygen fuel cell.
It would be desirable to replenish such a storage tank within a sealed enclosure, such as a submersible-vehicle hull, without exposing the interior environment of the enclosure to the exterior environment. In particular, it would be desirable that the state of the environment within the enclosure (e.g. a vacuum, a specified or regulated pressure of an inert gas, etc.) not be disturbed in order to replenish a storage tank located inside the enclosure.